The Great Wall’ker

Finally I have reached Beijing Muni. I have set up my tent just a short distance from where the outer loop of western Hebei meets the inner loop I have been walking. It feels incredibly good to finally have reached this far after those first steps in the desert in Gansu more than a year ago.

This place is so different from the starting point of the Great Wall. Humid. Hills and mountains in every direction covered by mostly thick green vegetation! Close to the end of today’s walk, I came to a large area covered with white bushes with white flowers on them. They gave off a nice aroma  like a sweet perfume. There was no sweet girl here though. Instead, as soon as I stopped to put up the tent, I was greeted by a lot of blood thirsty mosquitoes.

I spent the first part of the day resting and eating. Washed my clothes and myself. It feels good to be clean again. Walking in warm weather through thick foliage quickly makes me feel dirty. I bought 5 litres of Ice Tea and started walking in the afternoon when it was a bit cooler.

Tomorrow looks like a pretty wild walk judging from what I can see from the tent camp, and the map. As long as it is not too hot, I should have enough drinking fluid to last most of the next two days.

11 kilometres today

8. june, 2010

Today I was asked: Are you going to Shanhaiguan or Dandong? I answered Dandong with a smile. The smile because this was the first time I met someone who knew that the Ming Dynasty Wall ends in Dandong.

Shanhaiguan is the traditional end point of the Ming Dynasty Great Wall walk from Jiayuguan. Over the last years there  a concensus has arisen amongst Great Wall scholars, that the Great Wall went on from Shanhaiguan to Dandong which lies right on the border of North Korea.

Little is known about the route from Shanhaiguan to Dandong. The few findings that have been done seem to line nicely up with ancient maps of the Great Wall in the province.

I want to thank Bryan and Kim of the Great Wall Forum for all the work they have put down in documenting the path of the Great Wall in Beijing municipality, Eastern Hebei and Liaoning. More so for being so generous in sharing their findings with me. Bryan has given me useful help and tips that will make my trip in Beijing safer. I hope to meet Kim in eastern Hebei to learn more about the route of the Great Wall in Liaoning province.

Last year a Chinese scientific report was published stating that the Great Wall is longer than believed. It stated that some new findings were uncovered in Liaoning province. I hope to get some specific information about these findings so that I can walk the new parts that have been found.

After walking for a couple of hours today, I entered an incredible landscape! Large rocks and cliffs. High mountians with several hundred metre verticle drops. I can understand why there is no need for a wall here.

Today I passed a three kilometre stretch of the Great Wall on top of a mountain. I had marked the starting point of a path on the GPS so that I could get to the Great Wall. After trying to find a way up 500 metres of steep terrain without success, I had to retreat down to a small road. There were several high verticle drops, and I couldn’t find a safe way up.

Shame - because there is a nice waterfall at the end of this short stretch of the Great Wall.

Had a rest at a Buddistic Temple at the warmest time of day and another towards the end of the day by a river called the White River. Long day today. I hope to take a good wash, of myself and the clothes I am wearing, tomorrow. Believe me - it is time for it…

34 kilometres today